Show Us Your Oldest Books

[MKL]

Nice vet books, hepkitten. I believe you are a DVM are you not or did I misunderstand another post (about meeting your hubby)? I am sure there have been some changes in vet med since they were published.

As for reading the older books, mine are readable. The Durham book needs a little work on the binding (which I haven't gotten around too) but the pages are sound. In such a case for older books it really depends of course on how they been kept or preserved - humidity and so forth. I try to buy books to read and use not just for under glass (now of course that doesn't mean I wouldn't want those under glass books - but that is another story). Older books can in some, if not many instances, outlast modern productions. I have a friend who has a pre-1600 Geneva Bible that is a usable as any book today - I am trying to talk him into willing it to me.

Thanks for the kind remarks.

Old books -- be still my heart. MKL, I'm in awe. Can you handle the 18th C books enough to read them, or are they under glass, or...?

The oldest book I have is Ben Hur, 1880.

Then come the veterinary texts: Veterinary Materia Medica and Therapeutics (with entries on belladonna, caffeine, and cocaine!) 1901; Frohner's General Veterinary Surgery, 1905; and Veterinary Obstetrics, 1908.

But my most-read and most beloved vintage book, though not antique, is this:

My parents used this 1957 edition to plan their wedding, and from the time I was a kid, I loved to read it. The sense of the past appealed, even then...and as I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate more and more Emily's gracious common sense. My mom left the book to me when she passed away. It's one of my treasures.

Everyday Afternoon Tea, complete with silver...*sigh* Now that's civilization.

 

[hepkitten]

Nice vet books, hepkitten. I believe you are a DVM are you not or did I misunderstand another post (about meeting your hubby)? I am sure there have been some changes in vet med since they were published.

As for reading the older books, mine are readable. The Durham book needs a little work on the binding (which I haven't gotten around too) but the pages are sound. In such a case for older books it really depends of course on how they been kept or preserved - humidity and so forth. I try to buy books to read and use not just for under glass (now of course that doesn't mean I wouldn't want those under glass books - but that is another story). Older books can in some, if not many instances, outlast modern productions. I have a friend who has a pre-1600 Geneva Bible that is a usable as any book today - I am trying to talk him into willing it to me.

Thanks for the kind remarks.

Yes, I'm a veterinarian -- and there have been a few changes in the profession since these texts were published! So they're of historical interest only (mostly as in, "Thank God we don't have to do that anymore!")

Books are meant to be read -- not that I'm opposed to books under glass, if they're too fragile to be handled, but it's wonderful that you're using yours. Friends of mine in the know tell me that most modern hardcovers are no longer sewn into the bindings, but glued like paperbacks. So they don't last nearly as long as the older books. And modern books don't smell the same. There's something to the scent of an old, old book...as sweet to me as puppy's breath.

Good luck on that Geneva Bible. Your friend isn't thinking of anything so conventional as leaving it to offspring, is he (she?) Heaven forfend!

 

[MKL]

hepkitten, well, I hope he is not so foolish to leave it to his kids. Ha! He has a very large library and a few years back his wife told me she had a dream that her hubby died and at the funeral some other fellow and I were arguing over who was going to his books. lol She was quite amused about it.

Yes, I'm a veterinarian -- and there have been a few changes in the profession since these texts were published! So they're of historical interest only (mostly as in, "Thank God we don't have to do that anymore!")

Books are meant to be read -- not that I'm opposed to books under glass, if they're too fragile to be handled, but it's wonderful that you're using yours. Friends of mine in the know tell me that most modern hardcovers are no longer sewn into the bindings, but glued like paperbacks. So they don't last nearly as long as the older books. And modern books don't smell the same. There's something to the scent of an old, old book...as sweet to me as puppy's breath.

Good luck on that Geneva Bible. Your friend isn't thinking of anything so conventional as leaving it to offspring, is he (she?) Heaven forfend!

 

[rebelgtp]

hmmm oldest book i have is called "myths beyond our borders" written in the 1800's...i'll have to try and dig it out sadly it is still in a box out in the shed after my recent move.

 

[rebelgtp]

Oh I just remembered I have a 1922 copy of The Wayfaring Man by George Estes that is in pristine condition and actually it has about 60 pages or so that have been left uncut (2 pages still bound together by the edge) so I have not read it.

 

[retrogirl1941]

Old books -- be still my heart. MKL, I'm in awe. Can you handle the 18th C books enough to read them, or are they under glass, or...?

The oldest book I have is Ben Hur, 1880.

Then come the veterinary texts: Veterinary Materia Medica and Therapeutics (with entries on belladonna, caffeine, and cocaine!) 1901; Frohner's General Veterinary Surgery, 1905; and Veterinary Obstetrics, 1908.

But my most-read and most beloved vintage book, though not antique, is this:

My parents used this 1957 edition to plan their wedding, and from the time I was a kid, I loved to read it. The sense of the past appealed, even then...and as I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate more and more Emily's gracious common sense. My mom left the book to me when she passed away. It's one of my treasures.

Everyday Afternoon Tea, complete with silver...*sigh* Now that's civilization.

I have the 1937 copy of Emily Post ettiqutte. I love reading it too. I have a book called "Samantha goes to the St. Louis Exposition". It is from 1883. I had to buy it b/c well look at my name!

Samantha

 

[Story]

Clatto Verata N... Necktie... Nickel... It's an "N" word, it's definitely an "N" word

 

[sixsexsix]

This isn't my oldest, but it is my favourite old book. My Nana won it while in highschool and I found it in her apartment when I was moving her to an old age home. Unfortunately her Alzheimer's is pretty bad, and she can't remember exactly how she won it.

The book is a classic, but if you haven't heard of it here is the synopsis from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Was_Thursday

 

[MrNewportCustom]

That is quite the history on that book, six. The caligraphy is wonderful!


Lee

 

[Lucky Strike]

Dos Passos' USA trilogy, and a pair of bookends with lots of fossils in them:

 

[GwenLake]

What a cool looking cover!

My grandfather was an electrical engineer. He told me that one of the most important skills he learned in college (RPI in Troy, New York on the GI bill after WWII) was shorthand. I forget the number, but he said he had the most words per minute in his class.

I guess them engineers needed a lot of quick notes, too.

I had never heard of an engineer using shorthand. Learn something new everyday!

 

[Nick D]

I have a copy of a translation of "Dies Irae" from 1868, that's the oldest book I have. A few cookbooks from the 1890s, 1928 Boy Scout Handbook, and seven Shakespeares from 1906-1920. That's what I can think of off-hand.

Oldest book I've handled is from the 1500s, but that's a whole 'nother story.

 

[Dr Doran]

Only now have I noticed this thread. OK. I have some doozies. Give me a few days to photograph them.

 

[shoelessjoe]

Written by Denver judge, Lewis B. France in 1884, Rod and Line highlights angling in Grand Lake, the Grand River (as the Colorado River was known until the early 1920's) and its tributaries in northwestern Colorado ... France wrote under the pseudonym "Bourgeois". Sadly, my copy is a mere second-edition and shares the same born-on date as my oldest fly reel, 1887.

 

[GwenLake]

Only now have I noticed this thread. OK. I have some doozies. Give me a few days to photograph them.

Ooh, I'm sure you do have some great ones. I can't wait!

 

[Miss Brill]

I forgot I had these--I bought them at a flea market in Kentucky about 7 years ago.

And this (magazine) isn't that old:

 

[LocktownDog]

Just picked up a "new" old book at a thrift store for $2 yesterday. A History Of Western Massachusetts, 1636-1925, Volume 3. Dated 1926. Weak binding, a few ink marks, but 400+ pages of cool portrait photos and histories. I'm not interested in any way in Western Mass, and will probably sell it. I just couldn't turn it down for such a price though.

 

[Dr Doran]

LYSISTRATA

A very amusing and reasonably accurate translation of the Lysistrata by Aristophanes with many, many illustrations. A "Livingston Carroll" wrote his name in the front on 3/13/37. jack Lindsay translated and Norman Lindsay provided lovely, lovely illustrations. For the hopefully few of you who do not know what this very important and historic play is about, it concerns a sex strike conducted in the pursuit of peace by the women of Athens, Sparta, and the other Greek poleis in the latter phase of the Peloponnesian War.

 

[Dr Doran]

HUNGER.

Knut Hamsun's Hunger. Too bad about his politics later. In any case, this 1920 edition has a blue hardcover binding, with "ex libris Mildred Kellogg" on a bookplate inside adn "Carol C. Kaplan Berkeley 1964" written in brown ballpoint ink on the inside front.

 

[Graeme]

I have a first edition (about 1900-1902) copy of john foster frasiers 'around the world on a wheel'

Its a great read, 3 jolly jents went around the world on bicycles. They left in 1986 and it took them 2 1/2 years. I fully recomend this book to everyone, pretty funny in places too